Byrne health battle 2017-08-31 14:52

As I attempt to reprint as many of these as I can, they likely won’t be in any order.

I do this for two reasons. The most important reason is to point more googly internet links towards this couple’s situation so people more wealthy than I can swoop in and help. The second reason is largely political: to make the point that a policy that MAY help people as many of my friends insists comes at the literal cost of literally harming other people.

That to do one possibly positive thing for possibly many people absolutely hurts other people. I want people to ask themselves if a choice is moral if the benefit kills another person, or hurts them horribly.

To that end the full text is first, the link to the original post is second. The link to the gofundme is included in the full text. The voice mail Mrs Byrne mentions is at the end. Please send money.

So, the insurance situation is partially fixed. By partially I mean I’ve been given the opportunity to pay the balance and have the policy reinstated (therefore retroactively covering everything they’ve denied) as long as I do so before September 14th.

The balance? $2696.18.

I’ve got the voicemail linked up on my Facebook if anyone is interested.

But that’s massive progress, especially since Chris’s meds are $4k every month, and reinstating means recognizing we’ve already hit the out of pocket max. So we would be ahead.

Plus, with the insurance reinstated, we can get back to doing that pesky thing called ACTUALLY TREATING THE CANCER.

Important, that.

However, since this insurance issue prevented any actual cancer treatment from taking place, we still have no income. And all of September’s bills to pay. And life-saving medications to pay for while the insurance is reinstated. Oh, and while our friend has kindly allowed us to keep borrowing her vehicle for another month, that’s not going to last forever. And of course we’re broke as hell because even paying the lowest cash price for meds, I spent $800 on meds and doctor’s visits this week.

So, yeah…

Of course one of those doctor’s visits was for our autistic, mostly non-verbal 4 year old Christopher, who starts at the school district’s developmental pre-K next week. He’ll be receiving speech and occupational therapy as part of the curriculum. Getting his supplies together wasn’t cheap, but between donations and what I’ve bought for him, it’s done.

Also, at the end of next week a plan we’ve been working on for over a year comes to fruition, and we receive 2 purebred Husky puppies from a friend’s litter. They’re to be trained by Jayne, our 10 year old current alpha dog (and by the human adults of course) to be companion dogs for Christopher. If we waited any longer Jayne would be too old to train them, plus we wouldn’t be able to guarantee two littermates from a household with both a child and cats.

I just need to figure out how to get them from Rocky Mount, NC to as least as far north as Harrisburg or Philadelphia so I can pick them up. That’s a different logistical issue.

So, to recap:

Christopher is starting pre-K.
I need to arrange to pick up his puppies.
Long term transportation needs to be arranged.Chris Byrne can’t work because he needs to get far enough in his cancer treatment that he can dependably be awake when he needs to work, and not have to cancel the classes he teaches.
We have no income.
We need to pay the bills, pay for meds, and pay for the back balance on the insurance (so we can get back to treatment).

But hey, we’re finally getting somewhere! And thanks to the aid of the NH Insurance Department, Harvard Pilgrim will be reinstating our policy!